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Full disclaimer: I’ve only played beta versions of both Torchlight 2 and Diablo 3 so my take on gameplay, story, and many other elements of each of these games is going to be very limited. As such, I will focus part of this list on gameplay and part of it on external factors such as DRM.

I enjoyed beta play on both titles. Admittedly, Diablo 3 beta play was limited to a stress test that turned out to be pretty antithetical to gameplay, but I hacked my way through it successfully. Torchlight 2 has a more expansive beta, and I have logged about the same two-odd hours it took to finish the Diablo 3 stress test.

Torchlight 2 is basically a Diablo clone. Both are action-RPG hack-and-slash, top-down games. You point-and-click your character across maps, through dungeons, and so forth, gathering treasure and items and killing hosts of monsters, skeletons, and other bad-guys. Your character levels up as you go, while constantly gathering new weapons, armor, and powers. Both games offer co-op modes or single-player gameplay.

Here are five reasons why I think Torchlight 2 is a better buy than the more famous Diablo 3.

1. Price

This is the most obvious advantage Torchlight 2 has over Diablo 3. Clocking in at just $20, you could buy a copy of Torchlight 2 for you and two friends for the same price as Blizzard’s Diablo 3. Indeed, Diablo 3′s hefty $59.99 price-tag seems rather out-of-place in the PC action-RPG genre. With so many free-to-play MMOs and competitors like TL2 at such a drastically lower price-point, Blizzard must be extremely confident that the Diablo name will carry sales.

And they may indeed be right. Still, for $20 you get a perfectly reasonable substitute for Diablo 3 and can spend the extra $40 in savings on other upcoming titles like Warlock: Master of the Arcane. $60 on Steam could buy you an action-RPG, a real-time-strategy title, and a first-person-shooter with change left-over.

2. Always-online play

Blizzard justified its requirement for always-online play for Diablo 3 by claiming it allows single-player characters to hop online at any point. If Blizzard didn’t constantly monitor character development they wouldn’t be able to allow single-player characters online for fear of cheating. This way a seamless online/offline experience is possible. Unless, of course, you have a poor internet connection. Or no internet connection. Or just want to play without worrying about an internet connection.

In other words, this has the potential to be a huge pain, whether or not the anti-cheat feature makes sense. Torchlight 2 on the other hand, has no always-online DRM. By contrast, TL2 requires players to log in to access patches and matchmaking. The rest of the time, you’re out of the clutches of developer Runic Games.

Blizzard could give players the option to have an offline-only character or an online-possible character and avoid this invasive DRM. So far, this does not seem to be an option.

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No, /vg/ was made with the intention of getting rid of the constant generals on /v/. You are supposed to browse the more popular generals on /vg/, while discussing less popular games on /v/. Yes, there has always been a lot of hate on /v/, but there’s also a lot of love for certain games, and that’s what makes it a great place.

Anyway, this is all off topic. Another fantastic article Erik. I’m personally getting both games, but I’m very disappointed with many of the decisions Blizzard made with Diablo 3. I’ve yet to try out the TL2 beta, but I hope to soon.

Saying Torchlight 2 is a better bang for your buck than Diablo 3 because of its price is like saying buying a SmartCar is more bang for your buck than buying a Maserati. It’s completely true, but totally nonsensical, and not helpful to anyone looking to buy a SmartCar or Maserati. Instead of making price and peripheral features the subject of a debate, why don’t we shift the focus to things that really matter, like gameplay, length, replayability, or even that oft-forgotten trait…..fun.

I’d be safe to say that TL2 missed it’s window of oppotrunity. If they’d realease it even by couple of weeks prior to May 15th, a millions of eager D3 fans would jump on, to just ease the pain of waiting. Now, meh, see you in a year at the pricetag of 4.99 on the steam’s “Deals” section.

I don’t see how that’s possible seeing as how Diablo 3 hasn’t launched yet. Nor has TL2 for that matter. What you mean is you hardly notice a difference in gameplay between the two *demos*. World of difference.

“Safe” is not what I would call the assumption that TL2 missed the window of opportunity. It makes a fair bit of sense that they would wait. They can tweak the game to address the what ever discontent comes out of the Diablo 3 release. They can then, at a much lower price point, pick up anyone who is looking for a cheap way to recapture what they liked about the Diablo series but is now 60 dollars poorer, the Torchlight Fan base, and everyone that held off on running out to buy D3 the day of.

Time will tell of course but it wouldn’t shock me if this works out to Runic’s benefit.

Do people not realize that the people that made Diablo 1 and 2 are the people that made Torchlight and are making Torchlight 2? I don’t get why everyone is down on Torchlight when they are the reason you are all so into this genre. People really need to look into who is making the games they love rather than just the name of the studio.

So playing the release of D3 it is probably the biggest pile of turd to leave Blizzards gates the game feels like a cheap knock-off of itself it follows the f2P model very well even know they charged you 45 pounds for the game, I pre-ordered torchlit 2 and got 1 for free and I am amazed at how much customisation such a cheap little game is, I can only imagine what the final release is going to be like… i honestly wish i could have sent d3 back the game is not worth it Torchlight 2 is Tesla sports car and Diablo 3 has the body of a Porche but the engine of banged up ford cortina